The Portland daily press., 1887-10-27
a DAY OF ADDRESSES.
CONTINUED FROM FIRST PAGE I

move forward, and the will OF God shall be done
Rev. NJ. E. Strictly, d. 3D., corresponding
secretary, presented the following on the
brotherhood of Man"
Or. StrIeby's Paper.
This country was settled by Three Brothers.
The first that came was an Englishman a Cayal-
Ter, who located himself at Jamestown; the see
ond was also an Englishman, Puritan, who
landed on Plymouth Rock the third was an Afri-
can, and was consigned to the FIRST Brother.
These families multiplied exceedingly and at
length came to he numbered by millions To
them was committed crest duty-the founding
OF an einpre, and the taking OF tnree grand steps
fishing 81 civil and religious liberty (2) thu secur-
ing OF personal freedom for all and 49, the exem-
plhcalion Of the brotherhood of Man. The last
step only remains TO be taken.
The parts of this great duty were unfOlded in
the due order of development. and spralg naiur-
ally out OF heredity and environment of The Broth
ers. The men and their surroundings given the
results were inevitable. Ii seems singular that
Just these men should have been selected bv
Providence, especially the black man, but the ne
suit shows that they were wisely chosen. The
black was in the end found 10 be the essential
factor.
/. Let me sketch these Three Brothers.
]. The First, the Cavalier had been, in the old
| The House of Stuart and of Archbishop Laud. He
representative of the rural population of Eng
land men who loved broad acres and fed sports.
In his home III the new world his great ambition
was to own large plantation and multiply the
number of his slaves, aud thus Initiate the 6aro-
NAL life OF the neither country. He cared nothing
for popular education ami thanked God that
there was neither a school house nor printing.
press in his domain.
come more accustomed TO city life aud was ad-
dcted to trade and commerce as well as to farm
ing HIS zeai as a reiormer IN church and State
brought him into collision with the House OF Stu
art, and indeed he was an exile in bis new home
on account of his religious and political principles.
| lie desired TO have "a church without bishop
| and state without a king" He was earnest in
| promoting education as well as religion, and his
| identifying mark everywhere was ule meeting
house ana The school house.
3. The Third Brother, the African, was not
| voluntary IN coming to his new home nor in the
choice Of his occupation. He was slave. lie
| was strong in body, amable.in disposition, but at
| length became the innocent cause of much i'll
bio between the other brothers.
III The duties assigned TO these men.
/. The founding of great empire.
| Never was there Il more inviting opportunity-a
continent almost unoccupitd, coast lined by two
great oceans, with climate varied aud healthy
and with bOundless resources in fertile lands
| rivers, lakes and miGes; and never was an opp0r-
4 tuDity better improVed-in less than three hun
dred Yeas the new empire has nearly double the
population of the mother country
| ?. The second duty was to lead In three great
| steps IN human progress. ~, The first step was
TO secure and maintain civil and religious liberty
This step was inevitable Tor the two English
| brothers. They had planted colonies and organ
| lied States. They had secured charters guar
| anteeing the rights of Englishmen. They had
thus training IN the arts Of government and had
| learned to value the blessings of constitutional
| liberty. In an evil hour the British Government
| began to invade these chartered tights. The Two
| brothers were aroused. The Puritan was by in
| hertance and principle foe of arbitrary power
He, OF course, was deeply stirred. The Cavalier
| had indeed been friend of the Stuarts. He
| could see no objection to arbitrary power when it
was praci1sed by himself and his party others
but he naturally and suddenly came to see it in an
| entirely different light when he and his party
| were the victims; and for once the two brothers
| were in accord.
A contest was imminent The British Govern
ment could settle il peacefully, if righteousiy; if
not, in bloed. 1t loouid not restore chartered
| rights. Then came The Declaration Of indepen-
| dence, the Revolutionary Var the new RepIIbIic.
with the truest definition and guarantee of civil
and religious liberty the world had ever seen. The
first OF the great steps in human progress to
Which these men were called was taken.
| (2) The second Step-the securing of personal
freedom for all-was plainly demanded by he
| taking OF the first. The elements of the new CON
| test were embodied in the Declaration of indie
| pendence on the one hand and Negro slavery on
| the other great principle and great fact at
| war with the principle. The antagonism was
| seen from the outset. Expediency shut mems
| eyes 70 L, but God and conscience opened them.
| How skillfu for time were the devices to escape
| the dilemma. 1t was said that the Declaration OF
independence was only for white men; that it was
nothing to do with slavery, and finally that slav-
| cry was right justified both by law and the Bible
| But all In vain. God and conscience would not be
| silent.
Again contest was imminent The South
could settle IL peacefully, rgbteopsly ii not in
| hence the Grill War and the overthrow of slavery
| The second step was taken
| (3) The third step is TO exemplify the Brother
hood OF Man. This i'll q like manner is demanded
| by the results OF the one proceeding-by the two
great and opposing facts: Emancipation, and the
| Negro as he is. On the one hand, every slave
| was emancipated; in the zeal OF the hour he was
maze citizen, enfranchised and guaranteed 1.-THE
| equal protection of law" O. the other hand
! twenty years have shown that these guarantees
| are in form and not in fact.
In other respects, too, his condition is seen to be
deplorable, full OF encouragement to himself and
| of danger to the nation.
Let me point out some of the facts in regard to
| his condition:
a. He does not enjoy his guaranteed rights
| Wish TO give due credit TO the extent and to
/ the localities in which he does enjoy these rights
him. lie was deprived 81 the ballot at one time
| by violence, and is now by fraud; in all cases
where his vote would be decisive in State or Ma
tional politics. 1t is not counted-in other words
| the race is practically DISTINGUISHED. In the
| courts he seldom finds standing as lawyer or
juror; IN the chain gang only does he enjoy mon
opoly. In the church, The school, the shop, he
does not, as rule, have equal rights; he cannot
join any church he pIeases, cannot choose the
| school to which he Will send his children cannot
| enter the shop TO learn trade or to work as
1ourneyman. He cannot, everywhere ride in a
white man, though he may buy the same first. class
ticket; he cannot, IN many places, attend the
theatre concert or lecture with the white man nor
with him eat lunch at the restaurant, nor lodge
| in the hotel. He is confronted. hindered and IN
suited at every step he takes towards enjoyment
| or improyement-a flaming sword guards the
avenues of knowledge, industry and virtue against
him. His guarantees Of equal rights are mock
2. He is left in ignorance and vice.
He-e again wish not only TO admit but 10 re =
| 1oice in the progress made. Mere than million
OF the colored people, of ten years old ard upward
| can write; but alas more than three millions
cannotl 1t is these that awaken our fears, for
| they are in danger themselves, and are a danger
to the nation. Owing to their illiteracy they can
| not keep the accounts of their earnings in the
lowest kind Of employment; they cannot enter
| upon the higher and more profitable avocations
and they cannot rise to the Intellectual dignity OF
| true manhood: Then, too, they are in bondage
TO their vices. When they escaped from slavery
| many of them did not escape from y ing, stealing
| and RIGHTEOUSNESS; when they entered freedom
many were captured by idleness, improydence
and mtemperance. These are the victims of de-
| signing men who take advantage of their ignor
ance to defraud them and of their vices to enrich
| themselves or to crafty their lusts The danger
10 the nation is from the contagion of vice which
| spreads beyond race or locality and from the
| schemes OF political demagogueS who can away 70
| their own ends the millions of these ignorant
voters, who have no property to be taxed and no
| character TO maintain.
8. He is under the ban of caste prejudice.
| This lies at tie bottom of the whole difficulty.
This refuses to see his good qualities, denies his
capacity for Improvement, shuts to him the doors
| Of knowledge, cheats him at the polls. wrongs
| him IN the courts. and consigns him perpetually
| to position OF newer Of wood and drawer Of
water, thus enstamping the race distinction broad
| and permanent ana awakening in his heart either
utter encouragement or inplacabe hatred.
In these three facts THE Withholding of the
negroes equal rights, his ignorance and vice, and
| this caste prejudice-are the elements of q race
| warfare; they fOreshadow another Impending
| Cr1sis"-the next "Irrepressible Conflict This
| becomes the more obvious, because the negro,
| having been recognized as man before the law,
there is no alternative but to withdraw the recog-
| milton or to make 1t real. There is no middle
| ground-he must be slave or freeman; the
equal OF bis white peers. The Impending Crisis
| IS the more imminent from the growth Of the
| blacks In number. In spite of ali denials, the
time is Fastening on when the blacks in the South
| ern states VIII outnumber the whites and when
| they feel their strength In Drawn and muscle-and
| when especially there arise among them men of
| education and talent. with ambition aroused and
| with passion stimulated by sense Of Injustice
then will the "lrrepressible Conflict" become as
| certain as, and. we fear, mere implacabe than
| the last great struggle.
| But there is higher standpoint from which to
! view this great questionable prOvidential When
the negro ceased to be slave he became invested
with new significance. Then for the first time
| began to be seen the meaning of his presence In
| America-the reason why the black man fr. m
Aifica-tle most degraded part Of the world-was
selected by Divine Providence as one OF the Three
| Brothers TO settle this continent He was the one
| by whom God could test the nation and call upon
| 1t to exewplify before the woi Id the Brotherbood
| ofntdn. The full test could only be made when
| the highest should recognize the lowest.
| The nation cannot shrk this test Justice To
the negro demands il; Christ, who died for all men
| demands it he cares for the poor and repudiates
| caste; he was born in poverty and toiled for his
| living; his mission was announced and atteSted
by miracles OF help for the needy and the preach
ing of the gospel to the poor; he touched the leper
| when he healed him; he ate with publicans and
| sinners; in his church there is neither bond nor